Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner defended the government's bailout of the financial system on Tuesday.

New York (CNNMoney.com) - Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner defended the government's bailout of the financial system on Tuesday, saying it has been a "critical" part of the economic recovery and will ultimately cost less than expected.

Geithner is testifying before the Congressional Oversight Panel, the main watchdog for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. The government enacted TARP in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. The program is due to expire in October.

While the economy remains challenged, Geithner said TARP and other "extraordinary actions" taken to combat the financial meltdown "have helped stabilize the financial system and restore economic growth."

Geithner acknowledged that some of the government's efforts were "unpopular." The program, initially funded at $700 billion, was used to pour billions of tax dollars in to troubled Wall Street banks, insurance giant American International Group and the auto industry.

But he argued that such steps were "essential" to contain the crisis and that they have improved conditions for homeowners, consumers, businesses, and state and local governments.

soundoff(37 Responses)

You can't defend the indefensible !! Geithner couldn't even figure out how to manage his own household so why is it that people would rely on this guy to lead us through this financial mess .

June 22, 2010 01:41 pm at 1:41 pm |

Slick William

TARP was a great idea that saved the banks from tanking. It should have stopped there, been set up with more stringent requirements on how the banks were to use the money and require payback schedules with penalties and heavy interest. Instead the banks took the money bought Tbonds and collected interest without risk on OUR money. Then Obama went on an unprecedented spending spree and the result is a 13 trillion dollar deficit, tax payer funded Union pension plans, Nationalized auto Industry, Nationalized Insurance giant and a mountain of tax dollar give away's to the Wall Street gang that were already rolling in our dough. Yes, this is Change for America, Change from the most prosperous Nation in the World to the largest debtor Nation in the World, Thank you President Obama and your Progressive Libtard wrecking crew!

June 22, 2010 01:41 pm at 1:41 pm |

Slider

Son, you're on the Titanic.

I noticed that you didn't give any financial reasons why TARP was successful, or why it was a good thing that Congress abdicated their duty in handling their TARP funds, and giving it to an unelected, unaccountable person such as yourself, Geithner.

June 22, 2010 01:43 pm at 1:43 pm |

deb0155

What economic recovery? Maybe for the federal government – but not for the average American citizen. We have over 11% unemployment in Illinois – how does that define economic recovery?

Where are the jobs? Does anyone question that?

June 22, 2010 01:44 pm at 1:44 pm |

Henry Miller, Libertarian

Yeah, wasting almost a trillion dollars of taxpayer money, especially when the taxpayers get just about nothing for the money, is going to be "unpopular."

Banks and AIG were rewarded for their irresponsibility, the auto industry was bailed out solely as a pay-off to automotive unions, and the taxpayers were screwed.

Yeah, that'll be "unpopular."

June 22, 2010 01:52 pm at 1:52 pm |

JES

If you didn't support then this would be a surprise.

Just another puppet for Obama's agenda.

The big surprise comes next year when our taxes have to be raised for all the wasteful spending that Obama has created.

June 22, 2010 01:55 pm at 1:55 pm |

When

When is the uaw going to pay back the money they owe? Oh i forgot, they don't have to, they are the chosen ones.

June 22, 2010 01:56 pm at 1:56 pm |

Dean

What economic recovery?

June 22, 2010 02:13 pm at 2:13 pm |

George Guadiane - Austerlitz, NY

The TARP money used to "save" the banking industry SHOULD have gone DIRECTLY to the citizens who will have to pay the tax liability created by the bill. It should have gone to citizens who were seduced, manipulated, tricked, lied to about their home loans...
Giving money directly to the banks did NOTHING NOTHING to help the people who now have to pay for it. It did nothing to create/save jobs and did little to help anyone but the ultra rich.

June 22, 2010 02:30 pm at 2:30 pm |

Ken in Pisgah Forest

TARP may have a bad name, but it save the world economy. Our largest bank, Bank of America was hours away from failure when it got TARP money and was able to keep its doors open. Deposits at B of A are FDIC insured, but the FDIC does not have enough funds to pay for that many deposits. It relies on the big banks to police themselves and not become insolvent. If you had a deposit account with B of A in September, 2008, you should count your blessings.

By the way, Citibank would have become insolvent within hours after B of A. The same goes for those of you who had with deposits in Citibank at that time.

The number five bankat the time, Wachovia, no longer exists, but it was small enough to be bought by another bank, Wells Fargo.

For those of you who think the government made a mistake by saving those banks, ask yourselves what today would be like if they didn't.

June 22, 2010 02:32 pm at 2:32 pm |

Ben

Geithner's a tax cheat and a joke. He needs to go along with the rest of Obama's sycophants.

June 22, 2010 02:32 pm at 2:32 pm |

Limbaugh is a liberal

Yes, the same republicans who in 2008 (BEFORE Obama! No, you can't blame this on him!) voted for TARP, insisting banks were too big to fail, are now pretending to be the fiscally conservative ones criticizing the huge deficit it created.